Campaign Staff Reveals Tricks For Keeping The Donald Off Twitter

Americans have become increasingly exasperated with White House Resident Donald Trump and his frequent vents on Twitter. Republican legislators are becoming increasingly horrified as their party leader continues to act like a grounded tween on social media. Six former campaign officials have revealed their strategy for ensuring that Trump keeps his Twitter addiction under control, and…

]]>http://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/23/how-to-keep-trump-off-twitter/feed/18Actual economists: Trump’s rosy forecast is baloneyhttp://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/23/actual-economists-trumps-rosy-forecast-is-baloney/
http://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/23/actual-economists-trumps-rosy-forecast-is-baloney/#commentsThu, 23 Feb 2017 14:58:47 +0000http://www.alan.com/?p=293467Keep in mind: these are actual degreed and credentialed economists who use complex mathematics and well-established models to study and predict economic behaviors, as opposed to, say, a former “reality” TV show host:

[E]conomic analysts have said that Trump’s growth rate target of 4 percent is audacious at best and implausible at worst, especially given broader factors like an aging population. The Congressional Budget Office and Federal Reserve project annual economic growth to hover around 1.9 and 1.8 percent, respectively, for most of the coming decade.

Four percent growth would require big gains in the size of the work force and productivity, but with baby boomers retiring and no boom in productivity, “you just can’t do it, mathematically,” former Labor Secretary Robert Reich told CNBC on Tuesday.

It’s just “not in the cards,” Reich explained.

“It would defy gravity,” Diane Swonk, a veteran independent economist in Chicago, told the New York Times last month.“It’s simple math.”

Sebastian Mallaby, who serves on the Council of Foreign Relations, told CNBC on Tuesday that “the economy is already operating at near potential.”

Economic growth is ultimately driven by two factors: population growth and technological innovation — and there’s only so much the government can do to affect either factor. Dale Jorgenson, a Harvard economics professor whose most recent forecasts show an economy growing by 1.8 percent annually over the next decade, explained to the Journal that workforce skills aren’t advancing. At the same time, few meaningful technological innovations have spurred job growth — with many advances leaving whole industries obsolete.

Chaffetz reportedly suspects that the tweet, which was posted in December the day after President Obama designated the more than 1.35-million-acre Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah, may reveal that the park officials had advanced notice.

“Welcome to the family Bears Ears (& Gold Butte) NM! A hopeful slot in our front desk maps has long been held for you,” the account tweeted.

An attached picture with the tweet showed what appeared to be an empty map slot, labeled “Bears Ears.”

Welcome to the family Bears Ears (& Gold Butte) NM! A hopeful slot in our front desk maps has long been held for you pic.twitter.com/r1vCLO7Uts

Chaffetz questioned the timing of the tweet, which mentions a slot that “long been held.”

“The White House is telling the governor as well as the congressional offices that no decisions had been made — that it was still an open question — so how is it [Bryce Canyon National Park officials] were already ready to go with that information?” Chaffetz asked in a letter to Bryce Canyon’s superintendent. “The timing is serious.”

Bryce Canyon’s interim superintendent Sue Fritzke insists the park did not receive advance notice and that the tweet was an innocent welcome notice.

“When we have another piece of land in the park service that is close by, we will reach out and welcome them to the federal family, and let them know we are here and interested in connecting,” Fritzke said, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

Juan Williams fills in as we discuss the arrival of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly in Mexico to meet with Mexican officials amid the release of DHS immigration guidelines.

]]>http://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/23/on-thursdays-radio-show-466/feed/2 TOWN HELL: Sen. Tom Cotton’s constituents drop a thermonuclear truth bomb on himhttp://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/22/nbsptown-hell-sen-tom-cottons-constituents-drop-a-thermonuclear-truth-bomb-on-him/
http://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/22/nbsptown-hell-sen-tom-cottons-constituents-drop-a-thermonuclear-truth-bomb-on-him/#commentsThu, 23 Feb 2017 03:23:51 +0000http://www.alan.com/?p=293453Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton is one of the most unrelentingly shrill conservatives in the “upper chamber” – a walking, posturing one-man roster of Heritage Foundation and NRA talking points who has been positioning himself as a front-rank voice of American conservatism.

Cotton (R-Ark.) faced hundreds of angry constituents at a town hall Wednesday night who grilled him for two hours on the Affordable Care Act, immigration, President Donald Trump’s administration and other issues.

The town hall, held at a high school in Springdale, Arkansas, was raucous throughout. About 2,000 people packed the auditorium and frequently drowned Cotton out with cheers, boos and jeers. Some attendees waved red cards when the senator said something they didn’t agree with.

The uproar hit a peak when a 25-year-old constituent pressed the senator on whether he intends to preserve the Affordable Care Act’s treatment protections for people with preexisting conditions. (Congressional Republicans, including Cotton, have vowed to repeal Obamacare but have yet to lay out a comprehensive plan for replacing it.) She kicked off her remarks by asking who in the auditorium was affected by the Affordable Care Act:

Woman in Tom Cotton town hall asks everyone affected by the ACA to stand up.

She then explained she suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a condition that affects the body’s connective tissues and blood vessels.

“Without coverage for preexisting conditions, I will die,” she said. “Will you commit today to replacement protections for those Arkansans like me who will die or lose their quality of life or otherwise be unable to be participating citizens, trying to get their part of the American dream? Will you commit to replacement in the same way that you’ve committed to repeal?”

The auditorium erupted in cheers as the crowd gave her a standing ovation. Cotton then attempted to dodge the question and asked for others in the audience to offer comments before he gave an answer.

That didn’t go over well with the bulk of the crowd, which began booing and chanting, “Do your job.” Cotton eventually returned to her question but largely evaded her request for specifics on how he intends to preserve coverage for preexisting conditions.

Some would call Cotton a weasel – but that would be an insult to weasels everywhere.

The Hill, which in recent years seems to have taken a somewhat conservative slant, saw it this way:

[D]roves of protesters jeered and heckled [Cotton] over topics ranging from the Affordable Care Act to Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

They almost say it as if it’s a bad thing! But I digress…

Another woman chided Cotton for allegedly sending her the same letter over and over when she tried to get a hold of him.

“I have sent you one message after the other, sir, about our family,” one woman said. “I live just down the road a few places from your office, and I have invited you into our home, and not a word, except a classic, regular letter sent.” …

Some attendees also urged Cotton to take a tougher stance on Russian interference in the presidential election and allegations of ties between President Trump and the Kremlin. One protester carried a banner reading: “If Hillary [Clinton] did this, you would have already locked her up.”

[A] woman stood up, introduced herself, and said, “I am not a paid protester.” A lot of people at the town hall applauded wildly.

Cotton said this in response:

“I don’t really care if anybody is paid or not, you’re all Arkansans and I’m glad to hear from you. So I know… there’s been some talk about that in the media, some politicians have said that. I just want to say thank you to everyone for coming out tonight, whether you agree or me or disagree with me. This is part of what our country’s all about.”

While defending the need to build a costly wall along the southern U.S. border, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) claimed on Wednesday that nuclear bombs could be hidden inside bales of marijuana smuggled into the United States through Mexico.

“I can suggest to you that there are national security implications here for a porous border,” Franks told CNN host Brianna Keilar on Wednesday. “We sometimes used to make the point that if someone wanted to smuggle in a dangerous weapon, even a nuclear weapon, into America, how would they do it? And the suggestion was made, well, we’ll simple hide it in a bale of marijuana.”

‘Cause every terrorist knows that the perfect place to hide a nuke is in a large bale of something the Border Patrol specifically targets! Genius!

[White House spokesman Sean] Spicer declined to discuss details of a rift on the issue between Betsy DeVos, the secretary of education, and Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, who was adamant that the administration move quickly to reverse an order from the Obama administration that allowed transgender students to use the restroom of their gender identity. .

But Mr. Spicer said during a White House news conference that Ms. DeVos was “100 percent” supportive of the president’s decision.

Ms. DeVos initially resisted signing off on the order and told President Trump that she was uncomfortable with it, according to three Republicans with direct knowledge of the internal discussions.

Mr. Sessions, who strongly opposes expanding gay, lesbian and transgender rights, fought Ms. DeVos on the issue and pressed her to relent because he could not go forward without her consent. The order must come from the Justice and Education Departments.

But Mr. Trump sided with his attorney general, these Republicans said, telling Ms. DeVos in a meeting in the Oval Office on Tuesday that he wanted her to drop her objections. And Ms. DeVos, faced with the choice of resigning or defying the president, has agreed to go along. The Justice Department declined to comment on Wednesday.

Though an official order from the administration was expected to be released as early as Wednesday, Mr. Sessions and Ms. DeVos were still disputing the final language.

Well, at least now we know the names of the top homophobes in the West Wing, and they don’t include the then-nominee who faced the toughest resistance from the Senate.

Richard Spencer — the alt right leader who vowed “we’re not going away” after Donald Trump won the presidency, was caught leading a Nazi salute for Trump and who got punched in the face at his hero’s inauguration — was evicted from the 10th annual International Students for Liberty Conference after trying to crash its party.

“Spencer, a self-declared white nationalist who believes the U.S. is losing its white identity, had no business attending a gathering of libertarian students, and conference organizers had every right to eject him,” Robby Soave wrote in Reason Magazine. “Indeed, their decision to do so was a valid exercise of libertarian principles in action.”

Soave described how Spencer “set himself up in the bar of the hotel” in Washington D.C. where the event was being held and “attempted to host an unscheduled and unwanted conversation about his despicable views.” He was eventually confronted by libertarian pundit Jeffrey Tucker, who “confronted Spencer and made clear to the alt-right provocateur that he ‘did not belong’ at ISFLC. Some shouting ensued, and hotel staff intervened. Shortly thereafter, Spencer left.”

In characteristic libertarian fashion, Soave pointed out that “the Marriott Wardman hotel is private property, and should enjoy the absolute right to evict irksome and unwelcome guests from its premises.”

]]>http://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/22/neo-nazi-tries-crashing-libertarian-conference-gets-kicked-out/feed/9How Trump screwed military familieshttp://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/22/how-trump-screwed-military-families/
http://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/22/how-trump-screwed-military-families/#commentsWed, 22 Feb 2017 16:58:17 +0000http://www.alan.com/?p=293426Thanks to tightwad Donald Trump, we can say goodbye to a child care program that was helping military families

Announcing his pick for Secretary of Defense last December, Trump promised that, when he became president, “all men and women in uniform will have the supplies, support, equipment, training, services, medical care, and resources they need to get the job done incredibly well and perfectly.”
It’s not turning out that way.

On January 23, Trump announced a hiring freeze for federal workers. While the freeze included exemptions for those “working in the military” and other national security positions, members of the Armed Forces are feeling the effects.

At least two Army bases are suspending childcare programs, citing staff shortages related to the hiring freeze.

In Fort Knox, Kentucky, garrison commander Col. Stephen Aiton sent a memo on February 17 immediately suspending new enrollment in the childcare program. He also announced that hourly and part-day services would be eliminated at the end of the month “until further notice.” Those part-day services includes preschool.

Aiton explained that “due to the federal hiring freeze” the facility was “prevented from bringing on new caregivers” to replace those that are leaving. The freeze is making it a challenge to provide “quality childcare,” Alton wrote.

Similarly, the Army garrison in Wiesbaden, Germany announced that it was suspending all part-day programs. Col. Todd Fish said the suspension was “a result of staff shortage due to the federal hiring freeze.”

]]>http://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/22/how-trump-screwed-military-families/feed/19Trump is a public health problemhttp://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/22/trump-is-a-public-health-problem/
http://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/22/trump-is-a-public-health-problem/#commentsWed, 22 Feb 2017 15:58:16 +0000http://www.alan.com/?p=293420Felling blue (pardon the pun) and stressed about Donald Trump? Well, you are not alone – and it turns out to be a public health issue:

Two-thirds of people in the United States say that concern over the future of the country is a “very or somewhat significant” source of stress, according to a new report from the American Psychological Association.

Communities of color are particularly impacted, with nearly seven in 10 black respondents saying the outcome of the election is a “very or somewhat significant” source of stress. By comparison, 56 percent of Latino and 42 percent of white respondents said the same.

The study, “Stress in America,” was produced by the APA based on survey data it commissioned from Harris Poll. It finds that, compared to all other generations, millennials are bearing the greatest burden, with 58 percent reporting the outcome of the election as a key source of stress.

Meanwhile, the report finds that communities of color report that “police violence toward minorities” is a clear source of stress, with the short period between August 2016 and January 2017 marking a considerable rise across the board.

“Among white Americans, the percentage for whom this is a significant source of stress increased from 27 percent to 35 percent,” the report states. Meanwhile, the report determines that the stress levels for the category of “Hispanic rose from 47 percent to 53 percent; black rose from 68 percent to 71 percent; Asian rose from 42 percent to 57 percent.”

These high levels of stress appear to be harming public health. “The percentage of people reporting at least one health symptom because of stress rose from 71 percent to 80 percent over five months,” the report states. Roughly a third of respondents reported headaches, feelings of being overwhelmed, anxiety, depression or sadness.

]]>http://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/22/trump-is-a-public-health-problem/feed/23Michael Cohen changes Trump-Russia story again as new questions swirlhttp://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/22/michael-cohen-changes-trump-russia-story-again-as-new-questions-swirl/
http://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/22/michael-cohen-changes-trump-russia-story-again-as-new-questions-swirl/#commentsWed, 22 Feb 2017 15:28:09 +0000http://www.alan.com/?p=293417You’d almost get the feeling Michael Cohen is trying to hide something!

President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer changed his story twice more about the Russia-Ukraine peace plan he may have hand-delivered to former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Michael Cohen, special counsel to the president and a longtime employee of the Trump Organization, admitted to the New York Times that he had delivered sealed plans for settling Russia’s conflict with Ukraine to Flynn before his resignation last week.

However, hours after the Times story was published, Cohen told the Washington Post that he had not brought the sealed plan to Flynn’s office in the White House or discussed it with anyone who worked there.

Cohen told the Post that he’d met with Felix Sater — a Russian-American who once worked for Trump, served prison time for stabbing a man in the face with shards from a margarita glass, pleaded guilty in a stock manipulation scheme involving the Mafia and may have worked as an FBI informant — and Ukrainian lawmaker Andreii Artemenko.

This 15-minute meeting, according to Cohen’s remarks to the Post, took place in late January at Park Avenue hotel lobby, and he admitted leaving with the plan in hand but “emphatically” denied bringing it to the White House.

But Cohen again changed his story Monday when he told Business Insider in a series of text messages that he didn’t even know what the plan was.

Even that account changed a short time later, when Cohen admitted to the website that he’d met for under 10 minutes with Artemenko to discuss the proposal, which the Ukrainian lawmaker told Cohen “was acknowledged by Russian authorities that would create world peace.”

He made a similar remark — “Who doesn’t want to help bring about peace?” — to the Times in the original report.

Meanwhile, the good folks at the NY Daily News follow the rubles – and they lead to Michael Flynn:

Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn received about $40,000 for his appearance at a 2015 party for the Russian government-funded TV channel RT — one of a handful of visits to Moscow that the disgraced ex-Trump aide is under scrutiny for.

Flynn was paid the sum for appearing at RT’s 10th anniversary celebration in 2015, The New Yorker reported in a far-reaching profile of Flynn published Monday.

The sum Flynn had received for the engagement had not previously been reported.

Last week, the Pentagon said it had no record that Flynn had ever received authorization to accept any money for the visit, The Wall Street Journal reported.

An FEC commissioner repeated her demand Tuesday that the White House provide proof for its claims that thousands of people were bused from Massachusetts into New Hampshire to vote illegally in the 2016 election.

The President of the United States has, without providing evidence, alleged a massive conspiracy to bus thousands of voters from one state to another to cast illegal votes in the 2016 elections, commissioner Ellen Weintraub wrote in a statement posted online Tuesday.

The commissioner made a similar demand for proof:

“Any such allegation challenging the legitimacy of federal elections would be of great concern to me, Weintraub continued. As it happens, this particular allegation falls squarely within the jurisdiction of the Federal Election Commission, since the expense of these buses has not been accounted for on any campaign-finance filing. Accordingly, I have asked the President for his evidence.”

On Feb. 9, Trump reportedly told a closed-door meeting of senators that thousands of people who were brought in on buses from Massachusetts voted illegally in New Hampshire, costing him the states electoral votes, and former Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) her job.

]]>http://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/22/election-commish-calls-trump-bluff-on-imaginary-voter-fraud/feed/6UPRISING: GOP legislators face angry constituents at town hallshttp://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/22/uprising-gop-legislators-face-angry-constituents-at-town-halls/
http://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/22/uprising-gop-legislators-face-angry-constituents-at-town-halls/#commentsWed, 22 Feb 2017 14:04:57 +0000http://www.alan.com/?p=293410“Blue America” has its own Tea Party, and it’s making waves – and unnerving Republicans who are now realizing that draconian immigration policies are not popular, Obamacare is more than just popular – it is necessary for far more of their constituents than they want to believe, and Donald Trump is wildly unpopular – nd it’s rubbing off on them! Let’s take a look around teh country at yeaterday’s developments.

Rep. Steve Womack got a spanking for congressional wasteghazi:

An Arkansas Republican lawmaker dismissed calls to investigate President Donald Trump — and he got an earful from an angry constituent.

Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) hosted a “coffee with the congressman” event Tuesday morning at the West Fork City Hall, where more than 150 people packed the room to air their concerns, reported KHBS-TV.

An even larger crowd gathered outside, and they wondered why Womack couldn’t have rescheduled the event at a larger venue or simply stepped outside to address them.

Voters asked about health care, the environment and the anti-science worldview held by so many legislators, and Womack said Republicans had been elected to roll back government regulations that he argued had killed job growth.

…

A man in the crowd asked Womack to answer yes or no whether he’d support a probe of the Trump administration’s ties to Russia, and the lawmaker said he didn’t want multiple “rogue” investigations possibly revealing classified information.

“You guys just want to investigate everybody,” Womack said, and was quickly drowned in boos.

Several people in the crowd reminded Womack of the lengthy GOP probes of the Benghazi attacks, and one man shouted out above the noise.

“You guys wasted a lot of money on Benghazi, waste a little on Trump,” he said, to extended cheers.

After the event, Womack suggested he was ambushed by protesters from outside his district.

“I’m on Obamacare. If it wasn’t for Obamacare, we wouldn’t be able to afford insurance,” Chris Petersen, an Iowa pig farmer, told his Senator. “Don’t repeal Obamacare, improve it!” he said. The crowd broke out in cheers.

Angry constituents confront Chuck Grassley in Iowa: “If it wasn’t for Obamacare, we wouldn’t be able to afford insurance!” pic.twitter.com/vrbhbOiBMM

“With all due respect sir, you’re the man that talked about the death panels. We’re gonna create one great big death panel in this country of people that can’t afford to get insurance,” Petersen told his senator.

… in the tiny eastern Iowa town [of Maquokets] — far away from the anti-Trump and pro-Obamacare protests that have filled cities in recent weeks.

It mirrored the playbook other Republican lawmakers have used during this week’s congressional break: A narrow topic covered in a rural portion of her state, in a public building with limited space. The Maquoketa City Hall room holds about 100 people, an Ernst spokeswoman said.

But when Ernst arrived, the room was full, with dozens more crammed into the doorway and spilling into an atrium and adjacent hallways.

People who had driven two hours across Iowa to attend greeted her with chants of “We want our voices heard!” and “Your last term!”

Ernst slipped in a side door, ignored the protests and called almost exclusively on veterans. She fielded just one question on health care and abruptly ended the event after 45 minutes, with a long line of people still waiting to ask questions.

All the while, the microphones cut out, making it impossible for those outside the room to hear the questions.

Between 200 and 300 protesters, shouting phrases like “Do your job” and “Meet with us,” disrupted the final moments of a speaking engagement of U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., on Tuesday.

Fischer, back in Nebraska during a recess week for Congress, spoke at noon during a closed meeting of the Lincoln Independent Business Association at a downtown Lincoln meeting hall.

A group called “Indivisible Lincoln” had called for a protest to object to her unwillingness to schedule a town hall meeting with the general public while making time for a special interest group like the business association.

As Fischer was wrapping up a question-and-answer session with association members, a group of protesters who had gathered outside the Grand Manse building began entering hallways of the structure, chanting “Do your job.”

Some began banging on a window that separated a hallway from the meeting hall where Fischer was answering questions. Her appearance ended shortly after the disruption.

Protesters never gained entrance to the meeting hall, and no one was arrested.

Fischer ultimately left the building via a back door. She waved at a group of about 50 protesters gathered there who carried signs with messages including “Be a no way in hell woman, not a yes woman.”

Someone even had the temerity to get in Mitch McConnell’s face!

An angry constituent at Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) speech at the Lawrenceburg Chamber of Commerce in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky on Tuesday tore into the Senate majority leader over the Trump administration’s pledge to “bring back coal jobs” to the United States.

“The last I heard, these coal jobs are not coming back and now these people don’t have the insurance they need because they’re poor,” the woman yelled at the Senator. “And they work those coal mines, and they’re sick, the veterans are sick, the veterans are broken down, they’re not getting what they need.”

“If you can answer any of that, I’ll sit down and shut up, like Elizabeth Warren,” she added, recalling McConnell’s motion earlier this month to stop the Massachusetts senator from reading a letter by Coretta Scott King during Sen. Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearing.

“I hope you feel better now,” McConnell responded, according to the Hill.

Most Republicans in swing districts are steering clear of in-person town hall gatherings this week, hoping to avoid the anti-President Trump protesters determined to make them the star of a viral YouTube video.

Instead, these at-risk Republicans are holding small roundtable discussions, Facebook chats and virtual town halls — formats that can more easily be controlled than traditional meet-and-greets.

It’s a safer strategy, but one that comes with a political risk: Democrats are mocking Republicans for running away from their constituents as their party seeks to gut ObamaCare, build a border wall and temporarily ban travel from seven Muslim-majority nations.

Vulnerable two-term Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) hosted an online town hall on Tuesday but has not scheduled any in-person events, according to the Town Hall Project, which tracks constituent events. Rep. Ryan Costello (R-Pa.) also will host a pair of virtual town halls later this week.

Rep. Rod Blum (R-Iowa), another top Democratic target, has scheduled “office hours” at two locations on Wednesday. And Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.) has virtual town halls planned for March, but no large, in-person events.

Our Cable News Consumer-In-Chief apparently has nothing better to do than sit around the White House in his jammies watching the likes of Jim DeMint complain about town hall attendees on the teevee machine, rather than doing his damn job.

At 6:11 PM Eastern time, Jim DeMint made the claim that the folks at town halls around the nation were “well financed and bused around to these town halls,” as if somehow liberals had the means and ability to do what DeMint’s group did in 2009. Despite the fact that many of these town hall attendees have actually resorted to wearing their zip codes as a badge to prove they’re constituents, DeMint persisted.

Then the Man Who Never Had An Original Thought sent out a tweet 12 minutes later. To be fair, he may have wanted to wait until the DeMint segment was over. It ended at approximately 6:20 PM or so, and Trump’s tweet went out at 6:23.

Apparently his takeaway was the town halls.

The so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous cases, planned out by liberal activists. Sad!

Speaking in an editorial capacity, alan.com and Liberaland do not advocate punching Nazis in the face.

On the other hand, we do not advocate experiencing too much guilt over any feelings of schadenfreude you may experience reading stories like this:

A white nationalist was punched in the face last week while handing out neo-Nazi literature on a California campus.

The man, who police have not identified, went Wednesday to the campus of California Polytechnic State University and passed out fliers in front of the Robert E. Kennedy Library, reported Mustang News.

The fliers promoting the American Nazi Party showed a swastika, which the papers identify as “a symbol of white power.”

Campus police were called to the scene and spoke to the man, but officers found no laws were broken and allowed him to remain outside the library.

The man returned Thursday to the San Luis Obispo campus to pass out fliers.

Another man, whose face was covered, approached the neo-Nazi and punched him in the face before running away.

The neo-Nazi declined to file a police report or give officers his name.

]]>http://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/21/punching-nazis-in-the-face-is-now-a-thing/feed/43Afghani war hero confronts Sen. Grassley, who acts like weaselhttp://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/21/afghani-war-hero-confronts-sen-grassley-who-acts-like-weasel/
http://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/21/afghani-war-hero-confronts-sen-grassley-who-acts-like-weasel/#commentsTue, 21 Feb 2017 21:30:34 +0000http://www.alan.com/?p=293369This is how Republicans treat our courageous allies in a war zone – just because they’re not citizens. Infuriating.

An Afghan man who served alongside American troops in Afghanistan tried confronting Sen. Chuck Grassley (R – IA) during a town hall meeting, but the senator tried to get out of responding to his concerns by citing procedural rules.

In a video posted of a Grassley town hall by KCCI reporter Hannah Hilyard, the Afghan man asked the senator about President Donald Trump’s travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries, as well as the president’s regular attacks on Muslims who live in the United States.

“I am a person from a Muslim country, and I am a Muslim — who’s going to save me here?” the man asked, after talking about the work he did in his home country to help the United States military to keep America safe. “Who is going to stand behind me? I have been shot two times… I have been roadside bombed once… But I was with the United States armed forces when I got shot, I didn’t get shot because of who is my mom and dad.”

Grassley tried to avoid the man’s question by claiming that he was simply going down a list of pre-submitted questions, and that this particular question wasn’t on the list. The crowd then jeered the senator and implored him to face up to the man’s question.

The wave of anti-Semitic hate crime that has swept through America in 2017 has had some new installments: the desecration of a cemetery in Missouri and nearly a dozen bomb threats to Jewish community centers across the country.

The Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City, Missouri, was vandalized on Thursday when dozens of headstones were knocked over or damaged. Although local police suspect that an organization was behind the crime (as opposed to a single person), they have not officially stated whether this is the case or whether they consider it to be a hate crime.

What almost certainly counts as hate crimes, though, were the bomb threats phoned into Jewish community centers on Monday. These included threats in Albuquerque, New Mexico; New York; Birmingham, Alabama; Buffalo and Amherst, New York; Chicago; Cleveland; Houston; Nashville, Tennessee; St. Paul, Minnesota; Tampa, Florida; and Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin.

The bomb threats occurred one day after Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, called on President Donald Trump to publicly denounce the new wave of anti-Semitism.

“The president helps set the tone for a country,” Hoenlein said from Jerusalem. “I’m hopeful that what he said about . . . addressing hate and racism of all kinds in American society will be translated into clear action.”

]]>http://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/21/trump-speaks-out-a-bit-late-against-rising-anti-semitism/feed/9Milo to Breitbart: Ya can’t fire me, ‘coz I QUIT!http://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/21/milo-to-breitbart-you-cant-fire-me-coz-i-quit/
http://www.alancolmes.com/2017/02/21/milo-to-breitbart-you-cant-fire-me-coz-i-quit/#commentsTue, 21 Feb 2017 21:07:26 +0000http://www.alan.com/?p=293381Milo Yiannopoulos had an epic bad day yesterday after a couple of recorded comments pretty much advocating sex with minors by the gay right-wing gadfly went viral.

After reportedly facing dismissal from Breitbart Inc., he has instead quit.

Meanwhile, FOX Business reporter Charlie Gasparino says Yiannopoulos was forced out by the powers that be at Breitbart:

Gasparino mentioned over and over again how what great pals he is with Milo Yiannopoulis and the folks at Breitbart during the segment, but explained that Breitbart isn’t making any money, (they get funding from billionaires like [extremist billionaire Robert] Mercer) and so they ousted Milo, not because of his inappropriate and disgusting discussion about underage sex, but because of their bottom line.

Gasparino explained, “Let me be clear what’s going on here. This is a business decision by Breitbart.”

“The publication has become a little bit of a caricature with itself. It’s become so right-wing and it’s become so dominated by Trumpism and the alleged support by Trump that they can’t make money right now,” he said.

Riiiiight.

But still, you have to savor the irony, given the legacy of the late, not-so-great (but very clever) Andrew Breitbart: apparently, ya jus’ can quit him (or claim you did)!